Dozens of Liberty students crammed into the Lynchburg Public Library meeting room to attend a mass meeting held by the Lynchburg Republican City Committee Monday, March 1.

During the session, three candidates were nominated for the city council election taking place in May. All three of the candidates delivered a short address.

“This election is so important that I retired early,” said Hundson Carey, who stepped down from his position as CEO of Westminister Canterbury of Lynchburg to run in the city council race.

Candidate Ted Hannon said that Democrats ran his hometown of Berkeley, Calif., into the ground in 1968 when students started voting.

“We are going to do it exactly the opposite way here in Lynchburg,” Hannon said. “We are going to get the students voting, and we are going to turn this town around,” he said and was met with applause.

The three candidates, of which include Hunsdon H. Cary, Don Good and Ted Hannon, are running on the same slate for the three open council seats that will be chosen by voters on May 4.

“The first thing (the current city council majority) has its eye on is your wallet to fund its pet projects,” Good said. “Ted and I are going to work to put an end to that. And that is why I call our ticket: Carey, Hannon – Good for Lynchburg.”

According to Good, the country is “at a crossroads” and has not faced such economic challenges since 1929.

“The citizens of Lynchburg cannot afford to have city council continuing down the same road of raising taxes and spending as they have done for the past decade,” Good said. “City government must live within its means just like every family, individual and business.”

The committee also heard from Trixie Averill and Danny H. Goad who are both running for chairman of the 6th congressional district of the Republican Party of Virginia.

Averill said that the first job of the 6th district chairman was to elect Republicans.

Goad promised to “fight for the principles of Constitutional government” and “restore the vision of our founders to the 6th District Republican Party.”

“There is a wind of freedom blowing out there and we need to be a part of that,” Goad said, referring to the Tea Party movement. “We need to ask ourselves a question: why did the Tea Party originate outside the Republican Party? Why didn’t the Tea Parties originate in the Republican Party? … We need to adopt the principles that they espouse of limited government.”

The committee also resolved to send a three-point resolution to Congressman Bob Goodlatte, demanding no earmarks, a balanced budget and strict border security.

A conservative majority on the council will impact many things including the possibility of changing the conditional use permits that costs Liberty University millions of dollars, according to College Republicans President Caleb Mast.

“If we can get some more conservatives on City Council — namely all three — that will be a majority on the council,” Mast said. “By being conservative, they will not raise taxes and they will not spend money that they do not have.”